


The Ghost

by Pendragon2601



Series: The Lightwood Bane Chronicles [12]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Rings, Get your tissues ready people, M/M, Magnus Bane is the cool parent, Manga, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Max Lightwood meets his nephew, POV Max Lightwood-Bane, Parents Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Protective Max Lightwood-Bane, Rafael is a good brother, Spoilers for The Mortal Instruments, Teenage Max Lightwood-Bane, Teenage Rafael Lightwood-Bane, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 11:51:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10921245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pendragon2601/pseuds/Pendragon2601
Summary: Max's sixteenth birthday is coming up and he is not excited about it. He has just found out that he is going to be spending his birthday in Idris, a place he is not overly fond of, and his Dad is being more quiet than usual. However, his brother and his best friend Evie do their best to cheer him up and Max recieves an unexpected visitor on his birthday...





	The Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to Girl Issues and is set when Rafael and Evie are seventeen and Max is turning sixteen. Evie's surname is also borrowed from the canon.

Max lay awake in his bed staring up at the ceiling quietly as the early sunrays of dawn stretched from his window. He could hear his brother, Rafael, snoring nasally from his side of their room, fast asleep as he had been all night.

Max looked over at his alarm clock on his bedside table. 4.03AM.

Rubbing his eyes in frustration, Max rolled silently out of bed, tiptoeing into the living room and flopping onto the sofa. He was exhausted despite that fact that he had felt too wired and restless to get any sleep. Every time he felt that he could just about fall asleep, suddenly he was wide awake again. He tried everything; changing positions, reading a book, throwing his covers off the bed, getting out of bed and pacing the room, but nothing worked. It was so frustrating.

“Blueberry,” whispered a voice from behind him. Max jumped in shock and glanced over his shoulder at the shadowy figure behind him. The figure stepped forward into the dim light of the living room and Max sighed in relief. Alec looked down at his son curiously as a bemused smile greeted him in the dark. “Blueberry, what are you doing up this early? That’s not like you.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Max replied with a half shrug. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I only got back five minutes ago.” Alec gestured to the gear he was wearing, which at a closer inspection, Max could see was covered in demon ichor. He grimaced as he watched Alec place his bow and quiver by the front door and shrugging out of his torn jacket. Max sat awkwardly on the sofa as he watched his dad unlace his boots and put them on a plastic sheet next to his bow, ready to be cleaned in the morning when he finally woke.

“Are you okay? You didn’t get any injuries did you?” Max asked anxiously. Alec frowned at Max and waved his hand.

“I’m fine Max and I’ve told you before, I don’t want you worrying about me. That’s my job.” Alec pressed a kiss to Max’s forehead as he sat down next to him.

“I can’t help it. You’re my Dad; of course I’m going to worry about you.” Max pouted as he leaned into Alec’s side for a hug.

“I know.” Alec sighed, squeezing Max’s shoulder in comfort. “But Max, I can look after myself perfectly well on patrols. And on the rare occasion that something _does_ happen, then Uncle Jace and the others will look after me.”

Max reluctantly nodded but tightened his grip on his Dad’s waist. “I just don’t want to wake up one morning to find out you didn’t come home the night before.”

“You won’t, I promise. I intend to live a very long life and die of old age, surrounded by my family and the many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that you boys are going to give me.” Alec smiled fondly at the thought.

“Dad, you know Warlocks can’t have children.”

“It doesn’t mean you can’t adopt like we did with you.” Max rolled his eyes with a smile. They sat in silence before Alec turned to Max with a serious look. “Now, tell me why you can’t get to sleep. Is there something bothering you?”

Max shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think so. I just can’t get to sleep.”

Alec pursed his lips in thought for a while. Max rested his head against Alec’s chest, seeking comfort by listening to the steady _thump-thump_ of his heartbeat. Alec had a thought and watched his son’s face carefully. “It’s not to do with your birthday is it?”

Max gazed up at his Dad in confusion. “What? My birthday’s not for another few days yet. Why would I be worried about that?”

“Maybe it’s the fact that we’re going to be in Idris this year for your birthday, instead of at the Institute.” Alec mused as he squeezed his hand again in reassurance. “I know you don’t have a lot of fond memories of that place – trust me, I don’t either – so maybe it’s playing on your subconscious.”

Max stayed silent and thought about what his Dad said. Max hadn’t even thought about Idris being a possible answer for his sleeplessness. It was true that he didn’t have a lot of good memories of the glamoured country or its glass city. He knew that he must have either been born there or nearby at least, for his birth mother to have left him on the doorstep of the Shadowhunter Academy when he was a baby. But if he had to be honest, he had no love for the country even though most of his closest family had been born there themselves.

“Look Max, you know your Papa and I are here for you if you ever want to talk. You can talk to us about anything and we definitely won’t be offended if you felt that you wanted to look for your birth mother -”

“Dad, I don’t want to look for my birth mother. I don’t want anything to do with her.” Max replied hotly, taking a slow breath to calm himself down. “In fact, the best thing she ever did for me was leave me on that doorstep for you to find me.”

“Okay,” Alec nodded quietly.

They fell silent as they watched the living room slowly brighten around them as dawn turned into early morning. It wasn’t long before Chairman Meow appeared from the side of the sofa with a bemused purr, as if he wasn’t expecting to find someone up before him. Alec reached down and gave him a scratch behind his ears, to which his tail perked up happily.

“Right kiddo, I don’t know about you but I could do with something to eat before going to bed for some much needed sleep.” Alec announced as he stood up and stretched with a yawn. “Want some scrambled eggs?”

“With some bacon..?” Max asked hopefully.

Alec nodded, even though he knew that was what Max wanted everyday for his breakfast. “Sure. But you have to feed Chairman Meow. His food pouches are in the cupboard next to the fridge.”

Shortly Alec was dishing up their breakfasts as Max sat at the kitchen counter that served as a table, when Magnus shuffled into the room with bleary eyes, dressed in his silk kimono dressing gown and his hair in disarray. He stared at them for a moment, taking in the sight of his husband having breakfast with his son and inwardly smiled. “I thought I smelled bacon. What are you two doing up?”

“Just talking,” Alec shrugged, taking a bite of his eggs. “How did you sleep?”

Magnus groaned, tiredly waving his hand. “Ugh, I hate morning people. Ask me when I’m more awake. Please tell me you made coffee.”

“It’s in the pot on the side.” Alec chuckled, leaning up to give Magnus a small kiss on his mouth before returning to his food.

“That’s my man. You know me so well, darling.” Magnus smiled as he poured himself a cup. “Max if you ever want to find true love; find someone with a coffee machine. It’s an essential key to all relationships.”  

“Sure, I will Papa.” Max shared a grin with Alec, who rolled his eyes fondly as Magnus turned around and leaned against the counter. A moment later, a sleepy Rafael walked into the room rubbing his eyes.

“Hey, why didn’t anyone tell me we’re having an early breakfast?” he yawned sitting next to Max and swiping up his last piece of bacon off his plate.

“Rafe, get your own bacon, that’s mine!” Max complained, snapping his fingers as the bacon in Rafael’s fingers suddenly reappeared on Max’s plate.

Rafael raised an eyebrow at Max. “Seriously hermano? Are you honestly going to sit there and deprive me of bacon?”

“Yeah,” Max replied with a teasing grin as he stuffed his mouth and let out a moan. “Hmm, this bacon is _so_ good.”

“That was pure evil, Max.” Rafael stared at his brother with an impressed look. “I’ve trained you well.”

Max grinned as their parents laughed at them both, before Magnus summoned two steaming plates of scrambled eggs and bacon for the latecomers and started to eat.

* * *

“What do you want for your birthday Max?” Evie asked over her shoulder, her eyes admiringly searching for her favourite weapon. “I’m sneaking into town after training to do some shopping before my uncle picks me up. But I haven’t the foggiest of what to get you.”

“You don’t have to get me anything.” Max replied as he stretched out the aching muscles in his legs. “Honestly, I’m just happy that your mother let you come with us to Idris.”

Evie grinned at him as she lifted two steel axes from the wall. She twirled them in her hands, watching the light shimmer on the blades as she returned to the mat. Before Max could catch her movement, the axes flew through the air and landed with two loud smacks on a target twenty feet away from her. Max noticed there was a look in her eyes that he had often seen on his Aunt Isabelle’s face whenever she was training with her whip. It was a kind of enthusiasm that was on the edge of becoming an obsession if it wasn’t reeled back in time.

A low whistle came from behind them, quickly followed by slow clapping as Max and Evie spun around in surprise to see Rafael standing with a crossbow slung behind his back. “ _Nice_ Evie. Although that was my last target you know. Uncle Jace is still waiting on another shipment from Idris to come through.”

“It’s still usable.” Evie replied as she skipped over to the target to retrieve her weapons. A large chunk of wood split from the target as she pulled out one of her axes whereas another fell to the floor completely, leaving the edges looking oddly shaped. “Oops. Oh well, you’ll get over it.”

Max spotted a small half smile appear on Rafe’s face as he shook his head. Over the last few months since Evie had admitted her crush on Rafael, they had formed a slightly odd familiarity with each other, which Max couldn’t particularly describe. There were moments when they were all together in one room and Max could sense this tension between them that was going about unspoken. He would often notice a small smirk or lingering look between them that made Max feel awkward enough to leave the room. But the next minute, they would be teasing each other like they were siblings.

“What are you getting Max for his birthday Rafe?” Evie asked curiously as she returned to the mat, brushing stray splinters of wood from the axes cheeks.

“I’m not telling you in front of him. It’ll ruin the surprise.” Rafe rolled his eyes as if to say _I’m not an idiot_.

“You’re not planning on doing something embarrassing are you?” Max said suspiciously.

Rafael gaped at Max with an offended expression. “What me? No hermano! Why would you think I would do something as horrible as embarrassing my little brother on his sixteenth birthday?”

“Because I know you Rafe and that is exactly the kind of thing you’d do.”

“True, but this time its different. I promise.” Rafael held up his hands in an innocent gesture.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Evie watched the two brothers bicker with each other and quietly laughed at their antics. “Alright guys enough. None of this is going to help us train. You can carry on arguing later.”

“Si, _Mama_ ,” Rafael replied as he shared a grin with Max. Evie rolled her eyes as they all resumed their training.

* * *

When they eventually got to Idris, Max found himself spending most of his time with his brother and Evie whilst the rest of his family attended meetings with the Clave. His parents had been reluctant to leave them on their own so early into the trip and had hoped to have a small family meal to talk about what they wanted to do whilst they were there. But as soon as they got through the warded gates of Alicante, an escort of guards met them there and told them that there was an emergency meeting to discuss a secret issue that they preferred not to say in front of Max, Rafe and Evie.

So a couple of hours later, Max soon found himself wandering through the city with Rafe and Evie, idly kicking a stone in front of him as they went.

“So that’s the Accords hall then? _That’s_ where the Faeries attacked everyone during the Dark War? Whoa.” Evie whistled slowly, looking up at the building in awe next to Rafe. “It seems so ordinary. You’d think that after an event like that it would have some sort of echo or imprint of what happened here but it doesn’t. It’s just normal.”

“Well it gives me the creeps.” Max shuddered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Papa told me that in some cases, if there have been a great number of deaths concentrated in one place, it can sometimes leave residual magic. It would be dark magic though, the stuff that some warlocks might use for necromancy.”

“I’m guessing that would be bad.” Evie said casting a sideways look at Max.

“Necromancy is forbidden for a reason. There is so much that can go wrong when doing a ritual and even then, you might not get what you wanted.”

“It’s a good job you’re not going down that route then, eh Max?” Rafael said trying to lighten the tone of the conversation. “Shall we move on? Alicante is a big place and we have a lot of ground to cover on this tour.”

“I wonder if we’ll see any ghosts.” Evie mused as they set off down the road that led to the old manor houses. “I’ve heard that there’s this one ghost that haunts the London Institute. There was an urban legend about it or something. Apparently, the ghost used to be a shadowhunter who betrayed the Institute and now has to protect it for the rest of her afterlife as punishment.”  

“There’s no ghost at the Institute. If there was, where’s the proof?” Rafe scoffed.

“Oh so you believe in demons and angels but ghosts are a step too far?” Evie replied with a raised eyebrow.

Rafael gave her a withering look. “I’ve seen demons. My parents have seen demons. Uncle Jace and Aunt Clary have been in the presence of angels. Those are real. Why would you want to believe in something that might not even be there?”

Max looked at them both as they walked, hands in his pockets as they went. He noticed a sad look appear on Evie’s face and she shrugged half-heartedly. “I don’t know. It’s just a nice thought, you know?”

She crossed her arms and walked ahead, leaving Max and Rafael behind. They shared a concerned look with each other before they hurried after her. They soon found her back at the Inquisitor’s home, which was still currently owned by their Grandpa Robert, sitting on the couch and staring at something in her hands.

“You alright, Evie?” Rafael asked, throwing himself onto the couch next to her whilst Max sat down on the other side. Rafael gestured to her clasped hands with a nod. “What’s that you got there?”

Evie looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders, slowly opening her hands to reveal a small steel ring with a pattern of crosses around the edge. “It’s nothing really. Mother said that this used to belong to Dad before he died. It’s the Thrushcross family ring.”

Max watched her hold it up for them to see clearly. He knew about Shadowhunter family rings. He knew about the tradition of passing down rings to descendents or future spouses to represent their commitment to each other. His Papa wore a Lightwood family ring on his wedding finger, since he had married into the family. Most likely when the time came, his Dad would pass down his ring to Rafael as he was the oldest. 

Evie continued talking, turning the ring over in her hands as she did. “Mother doesn’t really talk about Dad much. I guess she still finds it hard. So I suppose when she let me come with you guys to Idris, this was her way of letting me learn about what happened to him without her bringing up bad memories.”

“So that’s why you were interested in the Accords hall. He died there didn’t he?” Max said and she nodded in reply.

“His body isn’t buried in the City of Bones so I thought that maybe his ghost might still be around here or something. I never got a chance to know him. He never got to meet me.” Evie’s voice shook unsteadily.

Max took her hand in his and squeezed it comfortingly whilst Rafael wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. Rafe shared a look with Max and then looked down at Evie. “I don’t really remember my parents. I mean, I remember vaguely what they looked like but no features or anything memorable.”

“And I can’t remember anything before I was found by Uncle Simon and Papa.” Max added. Evie looked up at them quietly. “I don’t even know if my birth mother is still alive, not that I really care. You’re not on your own Evie. You can always talk to us if you need to.”

“Thanks guys.” She gave them a small smile as she slipped her ring back onto her index finger.

Rafael brushed away a stray tear on her cheek with the pad of his thumb, giving her a small smile. Max watched them as they looked at each other quietly and he sensed the awkward tension between them. He cleared his throat and they jumped apart.

“Right, so…” Evie suddenly stood up, brushing down her clothes before turning to them with a grin. “You know what we should do. I reckon we should take a leaf out of your Papa’s book and start the party early.”

“What are you talking about? My birthday isn’t until tomorrow.” Max frowned at her as she started searching around the room for something.

“Exactly,” she grinned at him as her head popped up from behind the couch. “Come on Max, you’re going to be sixteen tomorrow. You’ve read plenty of mundane fiction, haven’t you? Surely you know what happens when someone turns sixteen.”

Max stared at her in confusion. A slow grin appeared on Rafael’s face as he shot up and leapt over the back of the couch, heading out of the room and coming back a moment later with a small bottle of whiskey. Max looked at him in shock. “Where’d you get that?”

“Grandpa Robert’s office.” He grinned, sitting next to his little brother as Evie joined them. “Don’t worry, we won’t have much and I promise we won’t tell Dad. He’d ground us for sure if he found out.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. We won’t judge you if you don’t want one.” Evie added as Rafael opened the bottle.

“I will.” Rafe scoffed earning a sharp punch in the arm from Evie. He rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm. “Alright, I won’t. Look, it’s your birthday hermano, you can do what you want.”

Max looked between the bottle and his brother. “Our parents won’t find out?”

“I swear on the Angel.” Rafael held up his hand innocently.

“Oh, is that what you think?”

Max jumped and they all spun around to find Magnus leaning against the doorframe, with a raised eyebrow. Rafael hid the whiskey bottle discreetly behind his back whilst Evie shared a sheepish look with him.

Max looked at his Papa in horror. “Papa, we weren’t going to…We didn’t know you were back already. Is Dad with you?” He tried to look behind his Papa into the hallway.

“They didn’t need me for the rest of the meeting so I thought I’d come back here and check on you guys. I see I came back just in time.” Magnus waved his hand and the whiskey bottle appeared in his hands with a flash of blue flames. He peered down at the label and frowned in disgust. “Oh Rafael, you could have picked a better bottle. I’m quite disappointed.”

“Sorry Papa, I’ll put it back where I found it.” Rafael moved to stand up when Magnus suddenly snapped his fingers. The bottle in his hand changed into a bottle of wine and he smiled.

“That’s much better. Honestly boys, if you wanted to try alcohol you should have just asked. It’s not illegal to drink with a parent’s permission you know.” Magnus entered the room and sat down on an armchair, looking at each of them. “You can have _one glass only_ for tonight and we won’t tell Alec. It’ll be our little secret.” He winked at them and summoned four glasses, pouring the wine into each one.

“Thanks Papa.” Rafael said sheepishly taking a sip with along with the others.

“Next time, if you try something like this again without either your father or I knowing, I will not care if you are an adult or not, I will ground you.” He fixed Rafael with a stern look. “I’m not raising my sons to turn into teenage alcoholics and bad influences on their female friend.” He turned his attention to Evie and raised an eyebrow at her.

Evie huddled into the couch next to Max and sheepishly apologised. Magnus nodded and took a sip of his drink. “As long as it doesn’t happen again, I’ll let bygones be bygones. Now drink up, it’s Max’s birthday tomorrow. We should be celebrating.”

Max took a sip of his drink and tried not to grimace at the taste. Evie bumped Max’s shoulder and whispered into his ear. “Your Dad is so cool.”

“Yeah, he is.” Max grinned in reply watching from the corner of his eye as his Papa’s mouth twitched with a smile against the rim of his glass.

* * *

Max spent most of his birthday feeling overwhelmed as family member after family member pulled him into hugs, kissing his cheeks and ruffling his already ruffled hair or wished him a happy birthday.

It hadn’t been that bad this morning. In fact he quite enjoyed it. Rafael and Evie had woken him up by bundling on top of his bed (Max received a well intentioned pillow whack across the face by Rafael which ended up getting caught on one of his horns and tearing, scattering feathers all over the bed), wishing him a happy birthday whilst they gave him their presents.

Rafael had given him a set of steel blades and targets. Over the years, Max had become quite adept at shooting things across the room using his magic. Half the time he always missed his intended target (usually Rafael when he annoyed him), so to help with that Rafael decided to get him some miniature targets to keep him focused. The blades were just incentive.

When he opened Evie’s present, he was surprised to find a set of books where the writing ran back to front. Evie watched his reaction nervously. “I found them in a mundane bookstore back in Brooklyn. Apparently the mundanes call them “manga” books. I thought they might be something you might like.”

“Thanks. I’ve never read any “manga” before so this seems interesting.” Max replied, making quotation marks with his fingers.

“Yeah, I don’t know why I picked them to be honest. I was just browsing the shelves and I kept being drawn to them for some reason.” Evie said with a nonchalant shrug. She then caught Rafael twirling his finger next to his temple and tackled him to the floor with a giggle. Max joined them a few minutes later, wrestling with them both and laughing his head off until his parents came in to announce breakfast.

Max soon found himself standing awkwardly by the living room door as the rest of his family mingled with each other. His Papa had thrown a surprise party for Max’s birthday. Drinks were flowing, the buffet table in the corner replenished itself when it started getting low on nibbles and music was blaring from speakers that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Max spotted Rafael and Evie chatting amicably on a sofa and smiled. He may not be able to figure out their relationship exactly, but he could tell a mile off that they seemed happy in each other’s company.

Max headed for the front door after deciding he wanted some fresh air, taking a seat on a bench across the street. He felt exhausted so he debated with himself about whether to call it a night and go to bed.

“Do you mind if I join you?”

Max looked up in surprise to find a young bespectacled boy gesturing to the empty space next to him. Max shook his head and offered him a smile as the boy sat down. The young boy beamed at him in excitement and pushed his glasses up his nose. “It looks like a fun party in there. Is it someone’s birthday?”

“It’s mine. Well, kind of. It’s a long story.” Max said awkwardly. He didn’t really know when his birthday was. When his parents adopted him they had decided that the day they found him would serve as his birthday.

“How old are you?”

“I’ve just turned sixteen.”

“Really?” The boy seemed to perk up with interest. “I’m only nine.”

Max paused in thought for a moment before casting his gaze around themselves and finding the street completely empty. “Where are your parents? It’s a bit dangerous for you to be out here on your own isn’t it?”

“I’m not on my own, I’m with you. My family is nearby so I’m in no danger anyway.” The boy shrugged and turned his attention back to the party playing out through the window. “I never got a party like that for my birthday. My last birthday was just a small occasion with my family. Did you get any nice presents?”

Max didn’t know why he was talking to a boy he had never met before. He was never usually so talkative to strangers unless someone he knew was with him. But there was just something about this young boy that seemed vaguely familiar to him. He didn’t seem like a stranger somehow. “I got a few things, mostly books. I absolutely love reading.”

“I like reading too. Have you ever heard of Naruto? It’s a manga series with lots of pictures like a comic book, but you have to read it back to front to understand the story.”

Max looked at the boy in bemusement. “My friend got me a series like that. Actually I think that’s the series she gave me this morning.”

The boy smiled excitedly, his teeth shining whitely compared to the dark colour of his hair. “I only had the first book but it was definitely my favourite. I never got to finish it though. I was too busy to find time to read the rest of it.”

The sound of laughter alerted them to the party and Max spotted his Dad walk by the window. His dad had been quiet for most of the day, only speaking up when someone asked him if he was alright, but even then he replied with a smile. It wasn’t unusual for his Dad to be quiet but to Max, it seemed different. His Dad seemed to be dwelling on something…

“I know him. That’s Alec Lightwood, right?” the young boy asked suddenly. Max nodded. “I thought so. He looks different from what I remember.”

“You know my Dad? How?”

“He’s my big brother.” the boy replied with a smile, pushing his slipping glasses up his nose once again.

Max frowned. “But Dad doesn’t have a little brother, at least not anymore. His little brother died during the Mortal War…” He trailed off and stared at the young boy. Now that he looked more closely at the boy’s features, he took note of his dark brown hair and two grey eyes that seemed familiar. “Wait, are you…?”

The boy continued as if Max had never spoken. “I’m glad Alec’s happier now. He never used to be. Izzy always said it was because he was lonely. I didn’t understand back then how he could be lonely when he had me, Jace and Izzy, but I understand now.” The boy turned to Max with serious eyes. “You will look after him for me, won’t you? I know he feels uncomfortable in this place but I want him to move on; Izzy and Jace too. But they can’t move on if they keep remembering the war every time they come here.”

“Max, where are you? You’re missing your party.” Alec’s voice suddenly called as the front door slowly opened across the street.

Max felt his hand go cold. He looked down to find the boy touching the back of his hand gently. “Promise me. Promise me you’ll help them move on.”

“I-I will.” Max nodded seriously, watching the boy smile happily before he slowly faded away into mist. “I promise…”

“Max, what are you doing out here? Everyone was wondering where you were.” Alec asked with an amused expression as he slowly walked over to him. “Have you been sat out here all on your own?”

“No I was…nevermind. It doesn’t matter.” Max stood up and looked up at his Dad with a smile. “I just needed some fresh air. Shall we go back in?”

“Are you sure? Your grandmother is thinking of bringing out all of the old baby photos of you to show everyone.” Alec chuckled as Max’s face formed into a look of horror. “And I don’t think your Papa is going to stop her.”

“By the Angel, what are they thinking? It’ll be so embarrassing.”

“Come on, if we’re quick we may just get them distracted enough to forget the whole idea. I’ll distract your Papa and you deal with my mother. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Max started back towards the house, determined to find his grandmother before she could complete her plan to completely embarrass him in front of his whole family, when he heard his Dad call his name. “Max?”

“Yes Dad?”

Alec stared at the empty bench for a moment in thought. “Max…was there someone out here with you? I could’ve sworn I heard you talking to someone.”

Max wondered for a moment whether he should tell his Dad about the ghost he was speaking to – for he was certain that he had been speaking to a ghost – but then he wondered how his Dad would take the news that his little brother had visited his son. If he knew his little brother’s ghost was around then he might never move on…

He shook his head. “No. You must have been hearing things Dad.”

Alec hesitated and then shook his head, before following his son back to the party. “Oh well. Happy birthday, Max.” Alec leaned down and kissed the top of Max’s head.

Magnus suddenly appeared leaning unsteadily against the doorframe with a large grin on his face as Alec closed the door behind them. “Alexander darling, Maryse has found the old photo albums! Isn’t that wonderful? Do you remember that time when Max was pretending to be a pirate in the bathtub when he was three?”

Max clasped his hands to his ears, yelling at the top of his voice and darted away from his parents as fast as he could. Magnus and Alec burst into laughter, before Magnus leaned up to press a kiss to Alec’s lips. 


End file.
